Romania Case farm 1

Two types of production supporting each other This low-input dairy farm is located in the South region of the Romanian Plain (Southern Romania). As many dairy farms in Romania, it has two main types of production: animal production (dairy) and cereal crops (part of which is sold). It uses housing facilities of the old communist cooperative system: basic infrastructure, tethered cows (head to head, central feeding alley, etc.). The farm is run by the family (2-3 members), assisted by few casual workers, makes minimal use of bank loans and has a low-input approach. Milk is sold through a single outlet (national milk collectors) which has potentially adverse effects on farm resilience. However, the two types of production support each other. For example, the dairy farm benefits of crop residues/wastes while farm manure is the main fertilizer. Feeding is based on pasture (in the summer time) and hay plus bulk forages in the winter time (no use of silages) while the concentrate feeds are minimal (brans, some coarsely ground grains).